


Couldn't Drag Me Away

by pandorabox82



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:40:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23822458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pandorabox82/pseuds/pandorabox82
Summary: Penelope finds herself fed up with everything in her life, so she decides to take a trip to see an old friend, and finds exactly what she needed.
Relationships: Penelope Garcia/Aaron Hotchner
Comments: 2
Kudos: 40





	Couldn't Drag Me Away

Penelope tried not to sigh as she pulled into the driveway of an unfamiliar house. Well, that wasn't entirely true, she supposed, since she had looked up all the details on the internet after she had finally tracked down the information that she had never thought to find. But since she had gone private sector, since she had found her friendship with Luke fizzling faster than a bath bomb in hot water once they had tried dating, she had known that she needed to find her elusive unicorn. And now, she was here and she didn't know if she had made the right decision or not.

Parking behind the garage door, she turned the car off and took a few deep breaths, trying to convince herself that she could get out of the vehicle and go up to his door and make contact with him. Shaking her shoulders out, Penelope pocketed her keys and stepped out of the car before heading up to the front door. Before she could raise her hand to knock, the door was opened, revealing the man she had always held close to her heart. "You are the last person that I ever expected to see here, Garcia."

"Even after all this time, you can't call me Penelope, sir?"

Aaron laughed as he shook his head, welcoming her inside. "Old habits die hard, even for you." She blushed and shrugged a little. "So, what are you running away from?"

"Am I that obvious?" she asked as he led her into the living room. No answer came right away, and she frowned a little as her shoulders slumped. "I hate profilers. I've been out of the BAU for a year now, and I'd forgotten just how easily you people can read me."

"You left the BAU?"

She nodded as she took a seat on the sofa, curling up into a tight ball as she stared at the fireplace. "I had to. All of that dreck just finally got to me. After Jayje almost died thanks to an unsub, it was all just too much. I was tired of losing, tired of being constantly tense from worrying about if my friends will return home whole."

Hotch made a small sound of agreement in the back of his throat before he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, drawing her close to his chest. It felt so good to be this close to him, and she finally released the deep sigh that had been trapped in her heart. "Let me guess, you've gone to working with the people who are most affected by the people you used to help hunt down."

"Yeah. It felt like the right thing to do. But now, after breaking up with Luke, I just found life to be so colorless. I needed some variety back in my life, and every single time I thought like that, my heart turned to you." His hand tightened around her shoulder, and Penelope wondered if she had made a mistake in revealing her heart so clearly to him.

"I've missed this, you know."

"Missed what?"

"Your open heart. The fact that you can tell anyone anything. I wish that we had kept in better touch."

She shook her head a little before uncurling her body and scooting a little closer to him. "You had to deal with the Program and then coming out of the Program and getting Jack settled in a new place. It was entirely realistic that we would lose touch. I once told you that only wild horses might pull me away from your side. Turns out I was a little more fickle, and that is probably something I'll always regret."

"You're here now."

She nodded. "I am. Where's Jack?"

"Still at school. He's on the varsity soccer team, and has managed to parlay his skill into a good scholarship for next fall."

"Just like Jayje!" He nodded as he chuckled. "So, I didn't really have a plan after showing up at your door. Would you mind if I spent some time here?"

There was a small pause before he nodded. "I think that I would like that, Penelope." She sighed a little as she rubbed her cheek against his chest, feeling a sense of peace fall over her heart at being in his presence once more. This was what she had been missing, even when she had tried to fill the holes in her heart that he and Derek had left with Luke. A part of her had always known that he was a wrong fit for her, but she had tried to make it work in order to stave off the loneliness. "Your mind is a million miles away, isn't it?"

"Yeah. But my heart is right here with you. God, I didn't know how much I missed you until I was here. I know that you could have pushed me away, because I was stupid and didn't reach out to you more often. I thought that if I didn't think about you so often, you'd stop haunting my dreams."

"It doesn't quite work that way, does it?" She shook her head as he began to stroke her hair. "I know, because I've tried to exorcise people from my heart in much the same way." Penelope's spine stiffened a little when she felt him bend down and kiss the top of her head lightly. This was everything that she had hoped would happen when she made the decision to come here, but now that they were at this point, she wasn't certain that this was the right choice. Contorting her body, Penelope looked up into his face and that was when it hit her. He looked so at peace, so comfortable, with the casual intimacy, and she knew that things were headed in the right direction. Puckering her lips a little, she hoped that he would take the hint, and Aaron nodded before leaning down and brushing his lips against hers in the sweetest kiss she had ever experienced. "We'll have to wait until tonight if you want to take this a little further. Jack will be home in about thirty minutes, and I think that I would need much more time than that to properly handle things."

"I have waited more than a decade to kiss you, I think that I can wait a few more hours before getting to ride the Hotch Rocket." She gave him a saucy wink before she sat up and smoothed her skirt down around her thighs, listening to him choke a little on his sudden indrawn breath. "Did you forget about that nickname?"

"I had thought that we both agreed you wouldn't use it again?"

She shrugged a little before laughing lightly. "I rather think that you asked me not to call you that at work, and since neither of us are attached to the BAU any longer, I think that that means I am allowed to call you whatever I wish. Unless you prefer to be addressed as Mister Hotchner?" Penelope made certain to drawl those words out, knowing that she was having an effect on him by the way he shifted uneasily on the sofa. "Now, since I don't feel like ordering in, I am going to hunt down your kitchen and see what I can pull together." After getting to her feet, she leaned down and kissed him sweetly before heading out of the living room and heading towards what she assumed would be the kitchen.

Her instincts were correct, and soon she was pulling out a dusty cookbook and flipping through it to find something that she could create with the food on hand. While it wasn't ideal, as she would have preferred to make something completely meat free, she knew that there had been a reason why there was chicken in the fridge, and so she quickly threw together a simple broccoli chicken casserole, making certain to add all the spices that she remembered Aaron liking along with some extra cheese. Once she felt everything was together, she set that aside before whipping up some fresh garlic bread, thinking that it would go well with the dish she had prepared.

Just as the oven beeped to let her know that it had finished preheating, she heard a door open and close, and she just knew that Jack had arrived home. "Dad! We have visitors?" a deep voice called out, and she felt herself tear up at how old Jack sounded. She knew that he would have grown, but hearing the change proved to be more emotional than she had expected. Hurriedly, she stuffed the casserole dish into the oven and set the timer before wiping her hands off on a towel and trying to catch her breath as she turned to watch him enter the kitchen. "Penelope!"

"Hiya, Jackers," she managed to choke out before bursting into tears and allowing him to pull her into a tight hug. "Who allowed you to get taller than me? You weren't supposed to grow up into such a handsome young man in my absence!"

"I suppose that it just happens. Why are you here, though? Did something bad happen to the team?"

Shaking her head a bit, she allowed Jack to bring her back into the living room where Aaron still was, and then she was sitting down between them as she struggled to get control over her emotions once more. "I needed a little bit of variety. And I'm not with the BAU any longer, but I haven't heard anything bad happening to them lately. Not since Rossi almost died, and we blew up the jet. Well, Jayje blew up the jet. I wish I had been there to see it, because Luke said that it looked pretty badass."

"Wait, you blew up the jet?" Jack exclaimed, and she nodded. "And you didn't get in trouble for that?"

"Well, no, because it was seen as a necessary evil. And the Bureau managed to find money in the budget to replace it, because they felt like we deserved it after everything that the team had been through. The accumulated trauma of fifteen years finally seemed to get to them. Well, that, and Emily decided that she was going to move to Colorado with her partner, which helped to save a large slice of the budget. Along with my salary being gone, too. I mean, I'll have my pension from there, but that won't kick in for another two decades or so."

"Is there anyone left that I would know?" Jack asked, and she nodded. "Who?"

"Jayje, Tara, and Dave. Reid moonlights there when they need him, but he's usually off teaching. He and Max are expecting their first child, and are hoping that she arrives before Diana is no longer able to recognize any of them. And that's the update, I guess. Oh, it is so good to see you both again!"

Her tears began to well up in her eyes once more and then Aaron was taking hold of her hand, squeezing gently to let her know that he was there and supported her. "It would be difficult to grow accustomed to so many changes all at once. Is there anything else we should know?"

"I think that's it." Aaron gave her hand another squeeze and that alone seemed to give her the strength she needed to rein in her emotions. "Dinner should be ready in about fifty minutes or so. I don't know if you'll have homework to do or anything, Jack, but you're welcome to pepper me with questions, and I'll answer as much as I can."

"Unfortunately, you hit the nail on the head, Penelope, and I have to finish a history paper that's due tomorrow. It's just the first draft, but I only have about half the words I should. If I make good progress on it, I might stay and talk after dinner, though. You can try to think of answers to the questions I might have until then. And if you're still here in the morning, I'll make breakfast for us all."

Jack patted her knee as he got up off the sofa, leaving them alone once more. After hearing his bedroom door close, Penelope looked at Aaron and gave him a small smirk. "When did he grow up? And did he just give his tacit approval of me spending the night with you?"

"It happened in the blink of an eye, let me tell you. Even though we were able to bond a lot more in my new job, I still feel like everything happened so fast." Aaron cleared his throat before letting go of her hand and wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer to his side. "And I think that was the gist that I got from his parting remark. There are some things that are uncomfortable to think about as a parent, and this is one of those things."

"Hey, just because I sleep here, doesn't mean I have to sleep with you, even though I really want to. You're the one in control here, Aaron." Turning her face, she moved in close to his ear. "And I do so love giving up control to the right person."

He coughed a little bit before turning his face as well, giving her a quick, bruising, kiss. "You had better be prepared to prove that this evening, Penelope. After all, I believe you once told me that wild horses couldn't drag you away from my side."

"That I did, Sir," she said, her voice husky with desire as she thought about the night she was certain would be ahead of them. "Now, how to spend the time between now and then?"

"I could think of a few things, but none of them are quite appropriate. So, how about we turn the television on and just relax for a little while?"

"I think that that could be a good compromise, Hotch." She let her head come to rest on his shoulder as he picked up the remote and flipped through the channels until he had found something mindless for them to have in the background, and she was grateful for his consideration, since the only thing that she really wanted to do was snuggle close to him and get used to his presence once more, not knowing how much time they'd have together before she would have to head back to her other life. Even if a part of her really wanted to have Aaron ask her to stay. She knew that if he asked, even a herd of wild horses would never be able to pull her away from him side ever again.


End file.
